Philippe BIZEUL

Born in Fougères, near Rennes, Philippe Bizeul is a coach who is Red and Black through and through. As a player, he played for CPB Rennes, Redon as well as Vitré, he arrived at Stade Rennais in 1990. Aged 19, he would play a few seasons with the Reserves in the French Fourth Division (CFA). Unable to turn professional, he turned his focus on youth development and became a coach in Rennes' Academy set-up as of 1993, where he coached at virtually all levels, most notably the U19 side, where he managed for several years. In 2006, after having spent 13 seasons in the Academy, he left to join Tours as Assistant Manager. In his first post there, he supported Albert Falette, until the latter was sacked, which gave Bizeul his first chance to work as Caretaker Manager for just a single match. Then (in 2007), he would help out Daniel Sanchez, the newly instated boss at Tours, still as Assistant Manager. In 2011, he followed his boss to Valenciennes, where he would stay until 2013. In 2014, he would link up with Erick Mombaerts and his staff at Le Havre, once more as Assistant Manager. At the Normandy club, he would then work under Thierry Goudet and Bob Bradley, who would go on to take on the role of Head Coach there. He would also become Le Havre's Caretaker Manager on two occasions. In 2017, he returned to Brittany to work as Assistant Manager to Mickaël Landreau at Lorient until 2019. From there he joined Olympique Lyonnais, where he became the alter-ego of Gueïda Fofana at the head of the Reserve Team in the French Fourth Division (National 2). At the same time, he took his coaching badge (BEPF), which he successfully obtained in May 2020. In the same year, he would join Julien Stéphan's coaching staff at Stade Rennais as Assistant Manager, in July 2020. After a great start to the season at Rennes, the side started to run out of breath at the beginning of 2021, and with Julien Stéphan unable to find a way of turning things around, the Manager decided to resign in March 2021, when Bizeul was once more given the responsability of taking on the role of Caretaker Manager. His one - and only - game in charge of Rennes was the trip to Lyon, which ended in a 0-1 defeat for the Red and Blacks. He was swiftly replaced by the new permanent boss, Bruno Génésio, who was hired the following day.